


America's Sweethearts

by Nevcolleil



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 19:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2037666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Directing this movie could make Logan's career. Problems are: the movie won't happen without the power couple the media has named 'Cherik' and said couple is on the rocks; Logan's no match-maker, Erik's sleeping with his husband's sister, and Logan can't seem to keep his hands off of Charles. </p><p>The movie is a rom com, but the filming of it is shaping up to be something very different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based on the Julia Roberts movie of the same name - you don't have to have seen it to understand. Each chapter is written in one of three points of view.

It's not his dream project - in no shape, form or fashion could a big name name, big budget _rom com_ be his dream project, but somehow it still counts as a possible "break out" film for him - nevermind that he's been 'broken out' now for more than a decade if you ask Logan.

"You're a cult favorite, yeah. You've got fans," his agent says. "You're like pre-Serenity Whedon. This film could take you post-fucking-Avengers Whedon, man!"

Logan shifts the cigar in his mouth so he can say, through his teeth, "Bald?" Yeah, he can see how working with a media-magnet like the Hollywood mega-couple their fans call 'Cherik' could cause him to tear his hair out.

"A billionaire, asshole," Alex says, foul mouth at odds with his slick suit and fifty dollar haircut. Logan grins; he likes the kid better when he's being real. "And he was always bald."

Logan isn't convinced - he'd rather make a great film that brings in chump change than a blockbuster that could have been written for cable and directed by a key grip.

But Alex knows how to play the kind of games that Logan needs to play to get in a good word at Shaw Studios, and Shaw Studios can give Logan the funding he needs to hire the best casts and the best writers for making great films. Sebastian Shaw is a dick, but he's a dick with notorious methods. You work for Sebastian, you can pretty much cut your own checks, and as long as the ticket sales keep you in his good graces, everything's roses. Then again, if the project Sebastian cut you a check for bombs, Shaw cuts _you_ \- or the financial equivalent. But Logan's willing to take that risk to fund some of the work he's been trying to get off the ground for years now.

"And put that shit out! It's 2014, Logan, _fuck_ ," Alex gripes. "Don't you know it's not cool to smoke anything that doesn't take batteries?"

"You suggest I suck on an e- _anything_ , and I swear to god, kid, I'll put this out on the hood of your car," Logan promises. Alex would probably rather have Logan put his cigar out on Alex's _face_ than on the fancy, imported two-seater he babies like it's his actual kid.

They love each other, really. Logan will never fucking say it, but he wouldn't put up with this kid's constant PR-ing, his shameless fees - not to mention his lip - if he regretted pulling the kid out of craft services the first time a studio insisted on dealing with him through an agent. ("So take some classes, I don't know," Logan told him when Alex had said he didn't know how to be an agent, wide-eyed and afraid to hope under all that surly. "Whatever. And, no, I don't give a shit about your record. I got one, too, big deal.")

"I won't. Get lung cancer. The hell do I care. Just don't do it _here_." 

Kid's never gonna stop hounding him about this, though, Logan knows it - it was the same with Logan wearing a helmet any time he wants to take his bike out, even if it's just down the goddamned road. Sometimes he thinks he hired a _mother_ , not a smart-assed, skirt-chasing ex-con.

"Fine." Logan puts his cigar out on the heel of his boot and lets Alex snatch it out of his hand and make it disappear.

"Think they'll let us recast the tall one, at least?" Logan asks, moments before Shaw's supposed to show up for their meeting, just to watch Alex hyperventilate.

"Do I- _No_. Jesus, Logan, don't ask anybody that! Cherik _is_ this movie."

"Worth a shot," Logan says and shrugs, with time to spare for Alex to relearn how to breathe.

 

"Cherik" is Hollywood's hottest same-sex couple, still, ten years since their first film together - a remake of Goldie Hahn and Kurt Russell's 80's classic, _Overboard_.

Fans went nuts 'cause they were pretty, they had chemistry, and rumors said they'd been carrying on an affair since auditions. Then they filmed their spy thriller - _One Winter In Moscow_ \- and the critics went nuts too, because it turned out the little shits could act on top of everything.

Separately, they'd each done well enough for themselves before then. Charles (Xavier), the 'Ch' in their celebrity couple name, was a British television star when he came to the States - classically trained and well-known in the theater world. He's won two Tony's and got a BAFTA nomination in 2002. Erik (Lehnsherr) grew up in American films - he got his first and only Oscar nod when he was thirteen, for Best Suppporting Actor in _The Devil's Arithmetic_. He was a Tigerbeat poster pin-up before he'd even finished puberty. 

Between the two of them, they've won six Golden Globes, three People's Choice awards, and too many MTV Movie awards to count. The only thing that's won more press in Hollywood over the past decade, in fact, than their steady rise to fame, is their marriage - and the mess they've made of it.

'Well, the mess Lehnsherr made of it,' Logan thinks every time someone brings it up (which, seeing as Logan's in the movie business, is a lot.) When news first broke that there was trouble in paradise, the paps pegged Charles as the one who'd stepped out on his husband of only eighteen months. Charles was the bigger flirt - the one with the longest list of celebrity exes, including the brunette bombshell he was co-starring with at the time, Moira McTaggert.

Logan's never met either half of "Cherik" (and he'll never admit to knowing anything about them before this project came along; Alex would never let Logan live down keeping up with celebrity "gossip".) But Logan can admit, at least to himself, that he doesn't like Erik Lehnsherr, even though he's never met him. For all he knows, the guy's not so bad, and Charles could be a real prick, but the way Lehnsherr handled those first few months of the separation doesn't sit right with Logan. Even if he meets Erik and they hit it off, Logan doesn't think it ever will.

Lehnsherr could have refused to comment on the paparazzi's speculation, the way his husband still does; he could have deflected the accusations made against him without dragging Charles, and what would later be revealed as a perfectly innocent friendship, into it. 

Instead, Erik had thrown Charles under the bus - straight up telling one interviewer that he didn't know what his husband had or hadn't done outside their marriage. "But perhaps Ms. McTaggert would know more about that than I," he'd said. TMZ aired security footage of Moira attacking Lehnsherr in an elevator a month later, screaming, "How could you do that to him, you lying, fucking, shit!"

Two months later, he moved in with Charles's sister.

The tabloids stopped dragging Charles through the mud when they found out Erik'd helped sign the lease on Raven's fancy Hollywood Hills condo before he and Charles had celebrated their first wedding anniversary, but Logan's pretty sure their retractions meant absolutely shit to Charles by then.

"And you want me to do what, now?"

"Just stay out of the way, sugar, and let our people work some magic."

Fifty minutes into their meeting with Emma Frost - the PA Sebastian Shaw had sent in his place - Logan doesn't think he likes working with Shaw Studios any more than he likes Erik Lehnsherr and his supermodel girlfriend. For one thing, Shaw sent a _PA_ to this meeting, without any heads up - like he couldn't spare one hour for a face-to-face or even a goddamned phone call. For another-

"You're hiring me to direct a movie, right?" Logan says, not even bothering to hide how few fucks he gives about 'moderating' his 'tone', regardless of Alex's frantic gesturing at his side. "You're not looking for a guy to host some kind of bullshit, match-making game show for celebrities, are you? Cause I'm not that guy."

"What he means to say is-"

"I know what he means, Mr. Sommers, don't worry," Frost says calmly. "I'm used to the type." 

Logan raises an eyebrow, figuring that's as good a way as any to convey, 'What type is that, sweetheart?' But Frost goes on like she doesn't see it.

"There will be no match-making, like I said. Just a photographer here or there, and the like. Occasionally, Sebastian might call for an update on their progress, but-"

But there's no reason Logan ought to allow some sort of studio-vetted pap team access to his set, just so Shaw's "people" can try and pull the mother of all publicity stunts.

"They agreed to do the film together. What more's Shaw want?" Logan interrupts the ice queen and proves he can ignore a dirty look as well as the next bitch. "Long as they still work well together on-screen, shouldn't matter what they do on their own time."

"Aw... what an adorably naive perspective," Frost coos, about as sweet and sincere as a smile on a rabid animal. "I guess you really can take the filmmaker out of the quaint Canadian province, but you can't take the lumberjack out of the filmmaker, can you?"

Alex sighs. 

Logan narrows his eyes but doesn't comment. He just really wishes he hadn't stubbed out his cigar. Suddenly he has somewhere he wishes he'd put it.

"Look, we all know that movies aren't just about the _movies_ anymore," Frost says, slipping on her more professionally cool demeanor like a coat she just slipped out of for a minute. "They're about an experience. And Sebastian feels that moviegoers would rather experience the rekindling of an old flame..." Frost says it like she's dreaming up promo posters as she speaks. "Not the last, sad obligation of a couple of ex-lovers."

" _Sebastian_ feels it, huh?" Logan can't quite keep the sneer out of his tone. At least his face feels like it's behaving as he says, "And he thinks that gives him the right to play with people's fucking personal lives?" Hiring a team to try and trick a guy into taking back his lying scumbag of a cheating husband - or at least tricking the public into thinking he has...

Logan wonders if he didn't do more honest work for the U.S. Marines. He'd dropped out of high school and immigrated to join just in time for the Gulf War - and he'd done an awful lot of wet, covert work for them.

"Your prospective _boss_ ," says Frost, cutting out the rest of the crap, "thinks the eighty-five million dollars he's forking up to make this little film happen gives him whatever rights he can get away with."

Frost smiles, really milking her name for symbolism.

"Now sign the fucking papers or get the hell out of here and forget we ever called."

Logan signs.


	2. Chapter 2

When Charles read the script for _Days of a Future Past_ , he wasn't sure he grasped the continuity linking the disparate scenes that piggyback to form one, supposedly cohesive plot.

He'd agreed to do it anyway, of course - yet another concession given at the end of that first (last actual) year of his marriage, before Charles had realized that there was nothing left to concede for. 

Back then, he could afford to be generous in his consideration of new projects, in any case. Anything he and Erik signed on for, no matter how silly or derivative or borderline crass (not even Hank can convince Charles that _After Cuba_ is a good film, and Charles generally defers to Hank in all things) turned to gold. He's told the score Christina Perri wrote for the end scene of _Westchester County_ was the most popular wedding song of 2011. _You Are Not Alone_ broke the box office in 2006.

Charles hardly has that freedom these days.

Though, to be fair, this is not so much a consequence of the quality of the work he's done, since Erik and Raven left, as the _quantity_ of it. Charles has had exactly one project for the past two years, and it isn't one that will ever be listed on his filmography.

"And how are you today, Charles?" Dr. Munoz asks. Charles has secretly nicknamed him 'Darwin', because no matter what walls Charles throws up to keep the man from prying out any more of Charles's most painful secrets, Darwin adapts. He cuts through all of Charles's bullshit like it's butter.

"Fan-fucking-tastic, doctor," Charles says cheerfully. He doesn't bother matching his expression to his chipper tone. "And yourself?"

Darwin doesn't bat an eye. "Charles... What have we said about-"

"Dissociative emotive labeling," Charles says with his doctor. "Fine. I'm having a _groovy_ day today, doctor. How about you?"

Darwin lets Charles slide on the facetious lilt of his words - which is more than he'll usually do - but he still makes Charles listen to his whole spiel about "substituting emotives" to "avoid negativity without sublimating emotions".

"You know," Charles says blandly, when Darwin is done, "as my psychiatrist, you really should be discouraging any kind of dissociative behaviour, shouldn't you?"

Darwin looks at Hank. "I'll... make sure to remind him," Hank says.

"This is a bad idea."

Darwin's characteristic bluntness genuinely makes Charles smile. He'd had to search quite a bit to find a therapist who wouldn't just tell him what he wanted to hear. Most seemed to hope that one day he'd go completely out of his gourd, and earn them a mention in the tabs - as the earnest professional who'd "tried so hard to save him from himself."

"I don't disagree," Charles says. 

"But he's already under contract," Hank adds, as if Charles might have forgotten. "He _has_ to do it."

Charles thinks he and his dearest friend may not share an understanding of what Charles _has_ and what he does not _have_ to do.

_Legally_ , Charles has to make the movie he signed with Sebastian Shaw to make, now that the project's been picked back up. Legally, Charles has to stay at a distance of one hundred meters from both Erik _and_ his own bloody sister, when they aren't working together. ("I can't have him getting into my head," Erik had argued when he blamed Charles for the accident in 2012 - or so Charles has been told. Possibly, Erik wouldn't have stood a chance with his ridiculous accusations if Charles had answered his court summons.)

All Charles _has_ to do, if you ask him, is stay out of the papers for a goddamned _second._ He has to have his bar restocked twice a week. And he has to see Dr. Munoz every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (and sometimes on Saturdays) so he doesn't break down and call Raven in the middle of the night and _beg_ for her to come back to him. Charles is past needing the therapy to stop him from trying to contact Erik - as long as he's drunk enough, or high enough, enough of the time, Charles is good on that front.

"Oh, and Charles?" Darwin calls, just before Charles follows Hank out of his office. Charles turns and Darwin holds up the thick envelope Charles had given him last month. "I read that script."

"Yes?"

Darwin almost, but doesn't, smile. "I think it's shit."

"And that's why I pay you good money, my friend," Charles says, in lieu of goodbye.

He and Hank have a plane to catch. They'll be filming in Arizona.

 

It's not like there were no problems between them - before the lies, before the bad press. Before Erik started sleeping with Raven, not just conspiring with her...

And it isn't as though Charles shares none of the blame for the way his marriage had disintegrated well before the paps had gotten wind of it.

Plus, he and Erik have been separated now for nearly as long as they'd been together - you'd think Charles would have found some peace by now. But still peace eludes him.

He willing to confess that the drugs and the alcohol probably don't help; Charles just isn't willing to do anything about it. He and Erik both have their means of coping with the train wreck of their relationship - making low-budget films and crashing expensive sports cars, and sleeping with Charles's sister, is Erik's. Charles's is being perpetually too wasted to care.

The first hint that Charles gets that things may be about to change introduces himself to Charles in his suite in the hotel where they will all be staying while they shoot on location.

Charles feels nervous and pleased as he hasn't in quite some time - Logan Howlett's work is one of the reasons Charles and Erik could never see eye to eye.

Well, not Logan's work, specifically; films like the ones Logan directs are the kinds of films Charles has long wanted to be doing. Erik calls them "artsy" or impractical, but Charles has had a love of eccentric filmmaking since the academy. There, one of Charles's professors shared a documentary with his class that a young shoulder had shot in the Middle East using only handheld cameras, before and after battle.

The film moved Charles, and not just with its content. The composition was raw, untrained, but incredibly intuitive. The young soldier was Logan, and his natural skill inspired Charles - convinced him that beauty and art can be served anywhere. Charles took the risk of seeking work in Hollywood, in some part, because of Logan's debut.

He's no longer that young, hopeful - painfully ambitious - cinema student when Charles stands to shake Logan's hand, and has to battle the wide smile stretching out across his face - lest it overstate his enthusiasm. But for a moment Charles almost feels those things; among some other emotions Charles hasn't been arsed, since Erik, to pursue.

Logan's hand is large and rough, his grip uncompromising, and when it lingers perhaps a bit longer than necessary, adrenaline floods Charles's veins as though he's just been propositioned - by a _handshake_.

Logan's also just as handsome as Charles knew him to be through photographs on the internet, and if anything, his stature seems even more impressive in person. Next to Logan, Charles must look positively tiny. (Charles's face, therefore, is probably flushed as they begin their interview - he can't help it. It's not his fault that he has something of what you might call a "size kink".)

Most unsettling, however, seems to be Logan's eyes - dark and so very sharp. They travel Charles's body, from head to toe, more than once as he and Logan exchange small and shop talk - Charles sees it in his peripheral vision. And for the first time in as long as he can remember, Charles cares what he must look like - with his scruffy beard and his hair grown out to his shoulders.

When Logan leaves, Charles thanks Hank sincerely for forcing him to wear a nice suit and has him pencil in a barber for tomorrow afternoon.

Hank stares at him for a long moment, ignoring Charles's repeated "What? _What_ , Hank? Why are looking at me that way?" Then he smiles and talks Charles into ordering more room service than either of them can probably eat.

Charles even skips his usual night cap because he's so full, and wakes up the next morning early enough to let Hank drag him down to the pool.


	3. Chapter 3

Logan doesn't feel any better about anything when the cast gathers to start shooting their preliminaries on location. Part of that's thanks to a certain cast member, with his British accent, his blue blue eyes, and his surprisingly firm handshake. 

The kid looks like _shit_ compared to how he looks in the photo sets that everybody's seen. Photographers _love_ Charles Xavier - love trying to capture the boyishness that comes out when he grins, really grins, to make his babyface even more charming. They love trying to catch the little hints of mischief and danger that peek through his public face whenever he's not trying too hard to control it.

And now Logan can see why. Even looking like he just came off of a two year bender (which he probably just fucking _did_ ) Charles is too goddamned pretty for Logan's peace of mind. Logan can't stop looking at him. 

It's so bad, not only does Alex notice it, but he feels brave enough to take the piss out of Logan for it.

"Remember what you always tell me about business and pleasure?" Alex says under his breath, a smirky little smile on his lips as they leave Charles's suite.

"I tell you all the time to shut up, but that hasn't stuck," Logan says back without a beat. "Go see if Lehnsherr's here yet."

But Alex's curiosity is as stubborn as Charles's eyes in Logan's head. Photographs really don't do them justice.

"Seriously, Logan. What. The. Hell."

He makes Logan stop, sigh. Say what he would have hoped he never had to say to anybody.

"I've never jumped into bed with anyone who's ever worked for me. I wouldn't while we got work to do."

"Yeah, I know." At least Alex is quick to agree, and doesn't sound worried doing it. "Just- I've never seen you stare at anybody like that, man. I was starting to think you don't really-"

" _Shut up, Alex_." 

Logan doesn't let the kid finish that thought. He has sex, occasionally - with adults who don't depend on him for their paychecks. He just knows better than to introduce any of them to Alex when he has no intention of keeping them around.

"Lookie there, I've said it again." Logan smirks so Alex knows they don't have a problem, but he isn't interested in revisiting any questions about his sex life. "And I'm not kidding. The fuck do I pay you for? Find Lehnsherr. Set up a meet."

Logan knows there are no hard feelings between him and his agent because Alex flips him off as he beats Logan to the elevator.

Possibly, he and Logan don't have a typical working relationship, but Logan's a big fan of the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' philosophy.

'And if it is broke,' Logan thinks, heading back to his own suite for a smoke while he can get away with it, 'fuck it up even worse apparently.' He thinks of Shaw's plans to meddle with their two romantic leads with even more scorn now that he's met Charles in person.

Pretty is one thing, but Charles is smart, too, and now Logan knows it. He'd asked questions while he and Logan talked that actually made Logan think, and it's one of the few times Logan's ever had an arranged sit-down with an actor he would have gladly had just for the hell of it. 

Charles is kind, also, and he'd shown an enthusiasm for Logan's work that couldn't have been faked. His questions and comments had been too specific, too opinionated to just be polite. 

Logan remembers how Charles's grin had lit up his face and imagines sitting down with the man who stomped all over it back in the day. He can only imagine how badly this whole thing could go, and how quickly it could go there.

 

Lehnsherr isn't actually that bad of a guy - he's not really Logan's cup of tea, but few people are, honestly. 

He's as smart as Charles, if less chatty and a lot more pompous. He's handsome, but there's a meanness about his good looks that Logan'd never picked up on while watching one of his movies. Maybe because it's not in Lehnsherr's face but in the way he looks at everyone and everything like he's measuring their angles.

Even Charles's sister, who perches on the arm of the sofa Erik lounges on while Logan conducts his interview.

"We did something similar for a period piece, a few years ago," Erik says when Logan asks what he thinks about the non-linear format of the script. "I think it filmed well, though Charles may tell you different when he gets here."

Logan almost feels like he's giving something away when he says, "I spoke to him first. He and his agent got here this afternoon."

Erik goes still, although his face doesn't change at the news. 

"How is Hank?" asks the sister, examining her nails.

Logan wants to say, 'What? Not curious about your own brother?' But he behaves himself and says, "You can ask him yourself in the morning..." instead. Another one of Shaw's ideas (or maybe part of the first one) was to schedule a cast brunch for tomorrow . Usually, Logan likes to keep the dog-and-pony side of production down to a minimum during shooting - he knows his cast and crew will make their own time to unwind, when and with whom they choose. Forcing people who sometimes spend twelve- to eighteen-hour days working side by side to spend even more time together never pays off as well as one might think, in Logan's opinion. But since it's already been established that what Logan thinks, and what Shaw needs for this crazy plot of his to work, are two different things-

"I'm surprised Charles agreed to that," Erik says, still seeming perfectly casual. Maybe too casual, Logan's starting to think.

The part of Logan that's had to work hard to stay in line - smoking his cigars only in private, keeping the cussing away from mixed company, allowing Shaw's "people" to schedule Logan's time and that sort of bullshit - decides to push, and before he's sure he wants to know what Erik has to say to that, he asks, "Why's that?"

"Well, he hasn't exactly courted the limelight these past couple of years," Erik says, showing no signs of knowing exactly why his husband would want to avoid a camera crew at this point in his life. "And I've worked with Shaw Studios before. I know how Sebastian loves an opportunity to drum up press."

Lehnsherr's eyes narrow with suspicion, and for a second Logan wonders if he doesn't already know what's coming, but then Raven excuses herself to go powder her nose or some shit.

Erik sits up straight and says, "If this is an experiment meant to test how long we can remain in one another's company without resorting to violence, I'd rather not do it in front of the paps, thank you."

Logan's hackles rise as he wonders if this is Lehnsherr's way of warning him what to expect from any forced contact between him and Charles.

Oh, yeah. Filming this movie is gonna be a _ball_.

"You're both grown-ups," Logan says gruffly. "I'm sure you can act like it."

If Erik doesn't, brunch may end up more violent than he thinks. Logan and violence are no strangers, much as people tend to forget that about him, and he's never been good at looking the other way when a guy tries to lay a hand on his spouse - separated or not.

"How is he?" Erik asks, after a moment of silence stretches out. And for a second, Logan is surprised to see, he actually looks like he gives a damn.

'You can ask him yourself in the morning,' Logan's almost tempted to say again. "He looks good," comes out of his mouth instead. Then he gets paranoid about Lehnsherr misunderstanding his meaning. "I mean it looks like living outside of the spotlights for a little while's done him good." Like Logan has any idea what Charles's life has been like since he and Erik split.

"Hmm." Erik makes a noise that could mean anything, and stares at Logan like he's just looking at him for the first time.

Maybe he would of said something else, too, but Raven comes back into the room, and Erik closes his mouth.

Logan tries not to think about that too much as they wrap up the conversation and Raven offers him an invitation to dinner that Logan declines.

 

Logan goes back to Charles's suite first thing in the morning to speak to the kid's agent - the tall, lanky kid in the glasses, Hank - because he needs to know the real deal behind what happened between Charles and his sister if he's gonna work with the men in her life (and _not_ because he wants check out Charles in whatever he's wearing to brunch where no one will notice him noticing.)

Which is good because Charles is still busy getting ready when Logan gets there, and Hank is available to answer Logan's questions.

Hank doesn't look happy about that - but he is available, and he tells Logan what Logan wants to know.

"It wasn't that bad," Hank says at one point. Logan looks skeptical, and Hank obviously catches that, but he says, "I mean, it was _bad_. It's still bad. Charles misses her..." Hank looks off, at nothing, and Logan gets the feeling Charles isn't the only one. "And Erik's a dick for how he handled the press back then, but they weren't screwing around before Erik moved out. They wouldn't have done that to Charles."

Hank looks furious even suggesting that they could have.

"You sure about that?" Logan asks. Logan isn't.

Hank goes red in the face, but he sounds sincere when he says, " _Yes_. I know since then they've- But sex wasn't the problem with Charles and Erik. I guess maybe Erik thought it was, for a while. Charles used to flirt a lot..."

"Didn't give Lehnsherr the right to shack up with his sister."

Surprisingly, the corner of Hanks's lips quirk up at that - Logan has no idea why, so Hank explains it to him.

"Erik didn't help Raven get the condo because he'd planned on 'shacking up' with her," he says. "Raven and Charles were always fighting about whether or not she should get her own place, and what kind of jobs she should take to afford it... Erik _always_ took her side. I guess, at first, it was for Charles's sake - you know, to prove he could get along with Charles's family. But then I guess he got it into his head that Charles was making too many decisions for Raven that she should've been making for herself-"

Logan figures this also explains the way Raven's career changed right about the time she moved out of her brother's family home and in with Lehnsherr. 

"And I guess he had a point," Hank admits, looking like it pains him to do it, "But have you _seen_ some of the stunts she's pulled since then? Charles only ever wanted to protect her."

Hank's mouth twists, and Logan can tell he's thinking Lehnsherr doesn't protect her enough. Logan can't say he disagrees - regardless of how long she and Erik have been sleeping together, Logan can't imagine he'd like having someone he was involved with pose for some of the projects Raven's taken in the last three years. 

Just because nakedness can be used in art, doesn't mean everything you do naked can be considered artistic.

Charles comes out of his bedroom then, so Logan's conversation with Hank ends. 

Charles, fresh from a morning shower, and in a suit like the one he'd worn the night before, is definitely a conversation-stopper.

He's nowhere near as buttoned up as he used to look anywhere a photographer might have cause to snap his picture, back before the separation, but the new look suits him. (And Logan doesn't just think so because the open top of his shirt reveals more of Charles's fair skin than he used to flash when his style was less 'good boy gone bad.')

"I hope no one's expecting me to suit up for every function that's scheduled during filming," Charles says with a lopsided smile. He looks oddly nervous standing in front of Logan, but maybe that's because they're about to head down and see his sister and his ex.

"I had to use threats to talk him out of showing up for brunch in his pajamas," Hank teases - or at least Logan thinks he's teasing. The kid smiles. 

"Once we get down to work," Logan assures them both, "whatever anybody wants to wear offscreen is up to them. Studio's lucky to have gotten me out of my boots for this long."

And Logan carefully does _not_ read more into the slow once-over Charles gives him as he says this.

He doesn't read much into the couple of pills Charles pops right before they leave his suite, either - Alex's just shown up, and when he isn't giving Hank a weirdly hard time about some kind of paperwork or another, he's got Logan going over the day's itinerary with him.

When brunch ends with Charles punching Erik in the chin, hard enough to knock the taller man back and out of his chair, Logan realizes he should have been paying closer attention.

And that maybe anytime Erik Lehnsherr suggests there's a potential for violence in a given situation, he'd better fucking listen.


End file.
